Dona unscrewed the rubies from her ears, and laid them in the outstretched hand before her.
"Is that all?" she said.
He pointed with his sword to the pendant around her throat.
"Won't you spare me that as well?" he said, one eyebrow raised, "my cabin-boy will curse me otherwise. And the bracelet on your arm, I must ask you for that too."
She unfastened the bracelet and the pendant, and without a word and without a smile she placed them in his hand.
"Thank you," he said, "I trust you are recovered from your fever?"
"I thought so," she answered, "but your presence here will doubtless bring it back again."
"That would be a pity," he said gravely. "My conscience would be uneasy. My cabin-boy suffers from fever from time to time, but the sea air does wonders for him. You ought to try it." And bowing he placed the jewels in his pocket, and turned away from her.
"Lord Godolphin I believe," he said, standing before his lordship. "Last time we met I relieved you of your wig. That also was the fault of a wager. This time, perhaps, I might take something a little more substantial." He reached for the decoration on Godolphin's breast, a ribbon and a star, and cut it away with his sword.
"Your weapon also, I regret to say, is something I cannot leave upon your person," and Godolphin's sheath clattered upon the ground. The Frenchman bowed again, and passed on to Philip Rashleigh. "Good evening, sir," he said, "you are looking a trifle less warm than when I saw you last. I must thank you for the gift of the Merry Fortune. She is a splendid vessel. You would not recognise her now, I swear. They have given her a new rig on my side of the channel, and a coat of paint into the bargain. Your sword, sir, if you please. And what have you in your pockets?"
The veins stood out in Rashleigh's forehead, and his breath came quick and fast. "You'll pay for this, God damn you," he said.
"Possibly," said the Frenchman, "but in the meanwhile, it is you who are paying," and he emptied Rashleigh's sovereigns into a bag tied at his waist.
Slowly he made the circuit of the table, and each guest in turn lost the weapon at his side, and the money from his pockets, with the rings from his fingers, and the pin from his cravat. And as the Frenchman strolled round the table, whistling a tune under his breath, he would lean, now and again, to the bowl of fruit, and pluck a grape, and once, while waiting for the stout guest from Bodmin to divest himself of the many rings on his fingers, swollen with gout, he sat on the edge of the table, amongst the silver and the dishes, and poured himself a glass of wine from a carafe.
"You have a good cellar, Sir Harry," he said. "I should advise you to keep this a year or so longer; it is a wine that will improve. I had some half-dozen bottles of the same vintage in my own house in Brittany, and like a fool I drank it all too soon."
"Death and damnation," spluttered Harry, "of all the confounded…"
"Don't worry," smiled the Frenchman, "I could have the key of the cellar from William if I wanted it, but I would not deprive you of the fun of drinking this in four or five years' time." He scratched his ear, and glanced down at the ring on Harry's finger. "That is a very fine emerald," he said. For answer Harry tore it from his finger and threw it at the Frenchman's face, but he caught it in his hands, and held it to the light.
"Not a single flaw," he said, "which is rare in an emerald. However, I will not take it. On second thoughts, Sir Harry, I have robbed you enough." And bowing, he handed the ring back to Dona's husband. "And now, gentlemen," he said, "I have a last request to make. It is, perhaps, a little crude, but under the circumstances, very necessary. You see, I wish to return to my ship, and to have you join your fellows in the woods and give chase to me would, I fear, somewhat prejudice my plans. In short, I must ask you to take off your breeches and hand them over to my men here. Likewise your stockings, and your shoes." One and all they stared at him in rage, and "By heaven, no," shouted Eustick, "have you not made game of us enough?"
"I am sorry," smiled the Frenchman, "but really I must insist. The night is warm, you know, and yesterday was midsummer. Lady St. Columb, perhaps you would be good enough to go into the salon? These gentlemen will not care to undress themselves before you in public, however much they may desire to do so in private."
And he held open the door for her to pass, and looking over his shoulder to the guests he called, "I will give you five minutes, but no more. Pierre Blanc, Jules, Luc, William - keep a close watch upon the gentlemen, and while they are disrobing, her ladyship and I will discuss the affairs of the day."
He followed her into the salon and shut the door.
"And you," he said, "with your proud smile, standing at the head of the table, shall I make you do the same, my cabin-boy?" and he threw his sword on the chair, and laughed, and held out his arms. She went to him, and put her hands on his shoulders.
"Why are you so reckless?" she asked, "so shameless, and so wicked? Do you know that the woods and the hills are black with men?"
"Yes," he said.
"Why did you come here then?"
"Because, as in all my undertakings, the most hazardous performance is usually the most successful. Besides, I had not kissed you for nearly twenty-four hours." And he bent his head, and took her face in his hands.
"What did you think," she said, "when I did not come for breakfast?"
"There was little time to think," he answered, "because I was woken just after sunrise by Pierre Blanc, to tell me La Mouette was aground, and taking in water. We have had the devil's own time with her, as you can imagine. And then, later on, when we were all stripped to the waist and working on her, William came down with your news."
"But you did not know then, what was being planned for - tonight?"
"No, but I soon had a shrewd suspicion. One of my men saw a figure on the beach, up the river, and another in the hills opposite. And we knew then, that we were working against time. Even so, they had not found La Mouette. They were guarding the river and the woods, but they had not come down to the creek." "And then William came the second time?" "Yes, between five and six this evening. He warned me of your party here at Navron, and I decided then what I should do. I told him of course, but that cut he received from the fellow in the woods on his way back to you did not help much."
"I kept thinking of him, during supper, lying wounded and fainting on my bed."
"Yes, but he dragged himself to the window, all the same, to admit us, just as we had planned. Your servants, by the way, are all shut up in your game larder, tied back-to-back, like the fellows we found on the Merry Fortune. Do you want your trinkets back again?" He felt in his pocket for her jewels, but she shook her head.
"You had better keep them," she said, "to remember me by."
He said nothing, but looked over her head, stroking her curls.
"La Mouette will sail within two hours, if all goes well," he said. "The patch in her side is rough, but it must hold until she reaches the French coast."